Posts by passwordprotected

7

The Martyring of Matthew Barrie.

by iknowall558 in

this is the kind of thing that the watchtower does not want people to know about.. .

http://thegoverningbody.org/category/ethics/.

passwordprotected

http://thegoverningbody.org/category/ethics/

JWs on Wikipedia have tried to bury any use of the recordings and transcripts of the judicial committee meetings - and subsequent appeal - in the case of Matthew Barrie (hobotalk) from the Wikipedia entry on discipline within the Watch Tower Society .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_and_congregational_discipline

I've had a submission to my blog of all of the audio and transcripts of the case, along with a study in the ethics involved in such cases.

Thus far the blog ranks highly in Google searches "jehovah's witness judicial hearing" and derivetives.

Let's share this content as widely as possible so that the apologists won't be able to bury the evidence of how judicial committees work.

328

A few Dawkins quotes to think about.

by AK - Jeff in

jw
friends

"faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.

faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.".

"my last vestige of "hands off religion" respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of september 11th 2001, followed by the "national day of prayer," when prelates and pastors did their tremulous martin luther king impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place.".

passwordprotected

and it is chaos, pain, terror - not love.

Wow. What was the reductionist's statement about atheists being cheerier than the death cultists?

328

A few Dawkins quotes to think about.

by AK - Jeff in

jw
friends

"faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.

faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.".

"my last vestige of "hands off religion" respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of september 11th 2001, followed by the "national day of prayer," when prelates and pastors did their tremulous martin luther king impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place.".

passwordprotected

And why would your comment following that one have any place in this discussion?

Could it be called "having an opinion"?

328

A few Dawkins quotes to think about.

by AK - Jeff in

jw
friends

"faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.

faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.".

"my last vestige of "hands off religion" respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of september 11th 2001, followed by the "national day of prayer," when prelates and pastors did their tremulous martin luther king impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place.".

passwordprotected

I find most atheists to be very positive people, unlike the may members of the death cult known as christianity

Reductionism at its finest.

25

2011 Convention Releases - PDFs?

by StandFirm in

does anyone have links for pdfs of any of the convention releases this year?.

many thanks..

passwordprotected

StandFirm, just be good and faithful and wait until it's your District Convention. It's bad manners to dip into the banquet bowl before it's your turn to be served.

24

Two possible reasons why some elders stay in the organization.

by Iamallcool in

do you think some elders stay in the organization just because of prestige and getting horny at some judicial committee meetings?

.

passwordprotected

I'd answer "yes".

14

When did jehovah's witnesses become "the truth"?

by Hobo Ken in

jw
friends

what's the best explanation?.

always since russell founded them?.

chosen in a specific year by jesus?.

passwordprotected

....and for those looking for the blog article, it can be found here.

Excerpt:

Jehovah's Witnesses have the "truth" right?

Now any witness will tell you they believe they are the true religion on earth right now....

But is that based upon their current beliefs and standing with God?

Or have they perhaps always been God's chosen ones since C . T. Russell founded them?

Or as Franz believed attained such a lofty title at a specific time?

One of the above must be what they believe.

In my opinion the answer to these questions lies in a long term strategy by Governing Body 2.0 to re-shape or abandon doctrines and overhaul the public/religious image of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In the days of men like Fred Franz and his ilk they totally believed in their own press and thus felt they were in a position of having “special insight”. Fred Franz was merely following in the footsteps of "judge" Rutherford and his predecessor Charles Russell, the religion's founder in his mind-set.

Franz believed they were "chosen" by Jesus himself during an "invisible" visit to earth to inspect the world's religions around the year 1919 a.d.

Now how does that above statement sound ? Would a "householder" in the 21century be likely to buy into that during a visit from a Jehovah's Witness at their door?
Remember ultimately they are a publishing corporation with a product to "sell" whether that be books, donations to the cause or joining the religion. Products have to be saleable and attractive to prospective buyers.

So the previous "product" sold. The end is coming! The people flooded in and so did the money......
Unfortunately the product had passed it's sell-by date in the shape of the combined "insights" of Russell, Rutherford and Franz when they turned out to be poorly judged guesswork and idle speculation at best.

125

JWs Not Allowed to Post on Websites?

by StandFirm in

this seems to be a favorite topic to bring up to any witnesses who post on any website where there are any opposers, either here or topix or anywhere.. so, here is the one and only place i will be discussing it.

who can prove that witnesses are specifically told not to post on websites about them?.

passwordprotected

A couple of things. First off, StandFirm is a tryer.

His blog (http://stayawake-standfirm.blogspot.com/) and his never-say-die atttitude to defending the Governing Body are what inspired me to start my blog (http://thegoverningbody.org).

In general he's fair, but at other times he's hugely blinkered and selective. But that's mind control. In my opinion he's earned his stripes when it comes to stepping out and standing firm in defence of the Society and the Governing Body.

His tone of argumentation, that you're witnessing, has been learned at Topix. So, don't expect him to curl up and die, do expect him to pick up on any perceived logical fallacy, etc. Yes, this will frustrate you, but he won't be as bad as reniaa or [insert weird JW apologist here].

Secondly, however, some of the reactions to his initial question have been sooooo JWN in their tone of puerile snickering. Grow up, people. You know who you are.

7

The Abuse - and Cover Up - of Children, With No Support from the Elders...

by passwordprotected in

...isn't unique to the watch tower society.. the trial took place in march 2008. prior to the trial, not knowing how the young man would plead, we asked pastor dh to come with pastor sw ready to give testimony on our childs behalf if needed.

pastor dh made it known to us they were not coming to the courthouse.

i explained to him if the young man pleaded not guilty, our child would then have to get up in front of the court and reveal the entire ordeal along with answering questions from the attorneys.

passwordprotected

I'm realising that the WTBTS and its problems with child abuse isn't unique. That could be why the mainstream media and governments don't make too much of a fuss about it.

7

The Abuse - and Cover Up - of Children, With No Support from the Elders...

by passwordprotected in

...isn't unique to the watch tower society.. the trial took place in march 2008. prior to the trial, not knowing how the young man would plead, we asked pastor dh to come with pastor sw ready to give testimony on our childs behalf if needed.

pastor dh made it known to us they were not coming to the courthouse.

i explained to him if the young man pleaded not guilty, our child would then have to get up in front of the court and reveal the entire ordeal along with answering questions from the attorneys.

passwordprotected

...isn't unique to the Watch Tower Society.

The trial took place in March 2008. Prior to the trial, not knowing how the young man would plead, we asked pastor DH to come with pastor SW ready to give testimony on our child’s behalf if needed. Pastor DH made it known to us they were not coming to the courthouse. I explained to him if the young man pleaded not guilty, our child would then have to get up in front of the court and reveal the entire ordeal along with answering questions from the attorneys. It didn’t matter, they still weren’t coming. His response to us was, “I have my church’s reputation to consider.”….[the pastors ultimately showed up after the threat of a subpoena].

This article explores the cover up of child abuse within the fairly large "reformed" (i.e. Calvinist) Sovereign Grace Ministries (link to Wikipedia article) church network. Watch for the similarities to how the Watch Tower Society deals with victims of abuse, especially the unco-operative attitude from the leaders.

In my experience of Christianity, "reformed" evangelical Christians (who often refer to themselves as Calvinists) are probably more arrogant than the Witnesses when it comes to believing they have "the truth". The disturbing part is that there's a heck of a lot more of them (65-70 million), and their influence is spreading. They make me sick.